"The truth about man is not merely that he is, by nature, savage and afraid, but that he refuses deliverance, and murders the messenger of light"(Dick, "Criticism" 197). This view of our nature as human beings is based on the teachings of the Christian doctrine of original sin, ...

Table of Contents Pg 2. Garden of Eden & Pandora's Box Pg 3. Cain and Abel & Odysseus and the Trojan Horse Pg 4. Noah and the Flood & Pygmalion and Galatea Pg 5. The tower of Babel & Daphne and the Laurel Wreath Pg 6. The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah & Echo and Narcissus ...

The Five Gospels: Theories & Conspiracies In the beginning stood four men. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the Synoptics of the Bible. Men with a vision, to conceive a living testimony of their Lord and Savior Jesus. But today many followers of Christ as well as scholars are skeptical abou...

People of all ages have read portions of the Bible at some time in their life. It could have been through church Bible study, Sunday morning worship, or for daily meditation. However, a large part of the Bible still remains a mystery for us seeing that we constantly question the Bible along with h...

Simon and Christ The character of Simon in William Golding's Lord of the Flies has often been viewed as the Christ figure of the novel. If you were to look at the actions of both Simon and Jesus, you would find a number of times that the situations are similar to each other. In the book, on...

Violence in the Bible In the Bible, there are a range of references related to violence. It is a reoccurring theme in the Old and New Testament. The acts of violence are either at the hand of God as a form of divine retribution against the sins of man or acts of jealousy and revenge by the mort...

Satan appearing in the form of a pig's head; the essence of Christ projected into a boy; young boys struggling between good and evil while roaming around on an Eden like island. These are the images that William Golding depicted in his book Lord Of the Flies, the story of a group of English b...

Parthenogenesis is best defined as virgin birth. Specifically it is defined as an electro-magnetic force applied to a female egg causing conception. This is how Jesus, the Essene, was conceived according to ancient Hebrew doctrines, and it is possible today. This is not a religious argument of th...

Gnostic writings of Jesus portray him as a heavenly redeemer made less of flesh than of spirit. The emphasis of Jesus' importance is not on his physical humanness but rather, on his ability to show people the way to the kingdom. Jesus put on flesh in order to give people gnosis and reveal to the...

Amos: The Prophet of the North Around 750 BCE, Amos, a shepherd from Judah, goes north to preach against the sinful kingdom of Israel. Amos was a prophet from the town of Tekoh in Juda. He was unassuming, but bold and fearless when called to bear witness against the evils of his day. Prior to ...

The Gospel according to John presents Jesus as the eternal Word of God, who "became a human being and lived among us." This Gospel was written so that its readers might believe that Jesus is the promised Saviour, the Son of God, and that through their faith in him, they may have life. John emphasi...

Abigail Abigail was the wife of Nabal. Nabal was rich but quite mean and surly in his dealings whereas Abigail was intelligent and beautiful. Her intelligence and discernment saved her family from destruction (1 Samuel 25) When Peter made his famous statement about women being the weaker ve...

Christianity as a Common Element in Literature The Christian faith is a strong reoccurring element in much of early and contemporary literature. Though other early religions, such as paganism, do come into play, Christianity is most prevalent because the early monks were the scribes of civilizatio...

There are no absolutes, no clear-cut black and white answers, no accurate gauge for justice - right and wrong - no real way to a world beyond physical death. This is the thinking of our age, an age of confusion. People hunger for answers but find only more questions. Christians are unsure of their...

The word renaissance comes from the French language meaning "rebirth". This rebirth of man may have been caused by the broadening horizons of man's geography and knowledge. This time period was marked by legendary explorers such as John Cabot, Vasco de Gama, Balboa, Magellan Hernan...

The Gospel of Luke Luke, Gentile Physician and companion of Paul wrote this Gospel in the mid 60's A.D. Luke wrote both the Gospel of Luke and Acts making him the largest contributor to the New Testament. These writings both begin with dedications to Theophilus, perhaps a potential or recen...

The Ringling Museum of Art was worth the trip to Sarasota, Florida. At first, I didn't know what to expect. I thought it would be a boring museum of prints or a limited collection on display for a period of time; however, this was not the case. John Ringling was co-founder and owner in 1884, along...

How can Scripture be of value for contemporary Christian ethics? "Christians are often described as 'people of the Book'... we acknowledge the Bible as embodying divine revelation and for this reason continually look to Scripture for instruction as to what we should believe and wh...

Paper: Paul's Letters The first of Paul's letters in the Bible, 1 Thessalonians, was written by Paul (from Corinth) for the church in Thessalonica. The first part of the letter gives gratitude for the newfound faithfulness for the Thessalonians, who were idols that turned to God. T...

Last summer my friend Jesus and I wanted to have a party at his house. His parents planned on going out of town for three weeks. If Jesus and I planned on having a party that neither of us could forget, we knew we were going to need some help. It took ten of our closest friends, Jesus and I to put t...

Background Isis was the goddess of fertility according to Egyptian mythology, she represented motherhood. She was the daughter of god Keb (Earth) and his wife/ sister Nut (Sky). She was the sister-wife of Osiris. Osiris was the god who judged the dead as they prepared to leave into the afterlife....

1. Topic: Parables of Jesus in the Gospels. Mt 13:10-15, Mk 4:10-12, Lk 8:9-10 (The Purpose of Parables); Mt 13:31-32, Mk 4:30-32, Lk 13:18-19 (The Parable of the Mustard Seed); Mt 25:14-15 (The Parable of the Talents); Mk 13:33-37 (Need for Watchfulness); and Lk 19:12-13 (The Parable of the Ten Gol...

Christmas in Mexico First thing is everybody takes off the last two weeks in December to party, spend more time with the family, and visit with friends, and all of the schools are closed for the holidays until January 6. Christmas is one of the biggest celebrations of the year. Christmas in M...

(A cult in the webster's is defined as," a system of religious worship, especially with the reference to it's rites and ceremonies".) The word cult comes from the Latin word cultus, which means "worship". "In this sense the cultic act is an act of worship, inv...

When growing up, do you remember playing the game Jacks? It involved a couple of bouncy balls and many non-descript "jack" pieces that were packaged together and sold in a small net bag. The first time my cousin introduced me to it, I questioned how a game could be played using such randomly oppo...